Magnus Chase Archives

Book Review: Magnus Chase and The Ship of the Dead

Nov 9, 2017

The Ship of the Dead (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #3) by Rick Riordan

Pages: 456
Publish date: October 3rd, 2017
Publisher: Penguin Australia
ISBN: 9780141342597
Purchase: Book Depository– Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU – QBD

Loki the trickster god is free from his chains. Now he’s readying Naglfar, the Ship of the Dead, armed with a host of giants and zombies, to sail against the Norse gods and begin the final battle of Ragnarok. It’s up to Magnus Chase and his friends to stop Loki’s plans, but to do so they will have to sail across the oceans of Midgard, Jotunheim and Niflheim in a desperate race to reach Naglfar before it’s ready to sail on Midsummer’s Day.

Along the way, they will face angry sea gods, hostile giants, and an evil fire-breathing dragon who happens to be a former acquaintance. But Magnus’s biggest challenge will be facing his own inner demons. To defeat Loki, Magnus will need to use words, not force. This will require finding a magical elixir so deadly that it will either make Magnus Chase powerful enough to out-talk the silver-tongued Loki, or destroy Magnus utterly

The Ship of the Dead

I received a free copy of The Ship of the Dead by Rick Riordan for review from Penguin Teen Australia in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my thoughts and feelings about the book.

This review will contain spoilers from The Sword of Summer and The Hammer of Thor.

I’ve loved reading Rich Riordan’s books for years – and now because I work in a bookshop I try and recommend it as much as I can. The Magnus Chase series has to be one of my favourites – it’s full of diversity, adventure and breaks my heart at the same time. You can check out my reviews of The Sword of Summer and The Hammer of Thor. I loved them both, so when I started reading The Ship of the Dead, I was excited and I wasn’t disappointed.

The Ship of the Dead made my heart fill up so much. I loved seeing how much the characters have grown throughout the whole series. I loved seeing characters find themselves – find out who they are. It’s one of my favourite aspects of young adult books – characters finding themselves. Going on that journey as a young adult when life seems shit – but in the end, you find out things that you never knew.

The Ship of the Dead follows Magnus Chase and his fellow crew on a journey to save the world from Loki and Ragnarok. Everyone comes together to travel the seas and try to attempt to stop Loki – again. It’s really nice seeing everyone come together – sort of their differences and save the world.

The Sword of Summer – is the classic Hero’s Journey arc and I really loved seeing it in the setting that is based on myths. It’s very different to other YA books hero journey’s and I loved it. This series also sparked my interest in Norse Mythology, which I didn’t know a lot about before.

I loved Magnus in The Ship of the Dead. Like I said before he really finds himself in this one and I loved seeing it. Throughout the whole series, the reader is able to see Magnus struggle with finding himself, coming to terms with his death and many other elements of his life. It was hard to see him struggle, but it was also realistic. The reader is able to see a character in fantasy esq world – struggle with who they are.

Again Alex was fantastic in The Ship of the Dead. Like Magnus, Alex sometimes struggles with who they are and it hurts my heart. Alex uses this front to hide away from that and we see it fall in The Ship of the Dead. The reader is really able to see Alex in this last book – before they were hidden away and throughout the whole book, the mask falls.

I could talk about this book for some time – but I’ll stop here. If you haven’t picked up a Rick Riordan book, please do. They are fantastic and you can really see him grow both as an author and as a person throughout all of his books

Overall, I loved this ending to another fantastic series from Rick Riordan. The Ship fo the Dead was intense, a little crazy at times and put a smile on my face. I let a few tears fall at the ending because my heart is weak okay. It was just really nice to see. The Ship of the Dead explores the notion of family and finding yourself. It’s about more than blood and loyalty at it’s highest. If you love mythology, diversity, and an adventure of a lifetime – this series is for you.

Book Review: The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan

Oct 3, 2015

Magnus Chase and The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan

Pages: 528
Publish date: October 6th 2015
Publisher: Penguin Australia
ISBN: 0141342420
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

Magnus Chase has always been a troubled kid. Since his mother’s mysterious death, he’s lived alone on the streets of Boston, surviving by his wits, keeping one step ahead of the police and the truant officers.
One day, he’s tracked down by an uncle he’s never met—a man his mother claimed was dangerous. His uncle tells him an impossible secret: Magnus is the son of a Norse god. The Viking myths are true. The gods of Asgard are preparing for war.
Trolls, giants and worse monsters are stirring for doomsday. To prevent Ragnarok, Magnus must search the Nine Worlds for a weapon that has been lost for thousands of years. When an attack by fire giants forces him to choose between his own safety and the lives of hundreds of innocents, Magnus makes a fatal decision. Sometimes, the only way to start a new life is to die . . .

The Sword of Summer:

I received an advance copy of The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan from Penguin Australia in exchange for a review. This has in no way influenced my thoughts about the book.

I cannot explain my feelings when this showed up at my PO Box. I got home late from University and there is was sitting on the table. I ended up hugging the book around the house for the next hour. Yes I said, hugging. And then I started to read it right away and I wasn’t disappointed.

Rick Riordan is a genius. He knows how to write a fun, exciting and engaging novel that keeps you reading and reading.

“You missed a pedestrian,” I said. “You want to go back and hit her?”

I’m a massive fan of mythology. I studied it in high school, I am doing a class on it at university and I have grown up with it. So it’s something that I hold dearly to my heart and I love reading retellings or books based on myths. The thing is, I don’t know too much on Norse Mythology – so I was happy that I start getting into it.

The Sword of Summer reads much like his other novels, in a sense that it reads for Middle graders, however anyone can read it. And come on all the main characters are just so loveable.

Magnus Chase; man I love him. He is quite similar to Percy in a sense, but much more sarcastic. He had off my seat laughing, I couldn’t read it late at night because I was going to wake up my siblings for all the laughing. A lot of the time he was funny and sarcastic and brilliant, then again at times he broke my heart. I am an emotional person so most of you won’t tear up, I just cry at everything. In saying that Rick Riordan was able to balance the two well and not have it too heavily funny. It would have made it unrealistic because of the events that happen before and during the novel.

“Then why don’t you just say A.D.?”

“Because Anno Domini, in the Year of Our Lord, is fine for Christian, but Thor gets a little upset. He still holds a grudge that Jesus never showed up for the duel he challenged him too.”

There is something about Rick Riordan characters that I just love. He is able to write characters that you just want to read about. That you want to know more about. That keeps the story going.

The plot of The Sword of Summer like other Riordan novels are quite similar. There is a boy, he turns out he is special, people are after him and so on. It’s the hero story and it might sound the same as other books, but there is something about Riordan’s writing like his characters that are unique and is intriguing.

I also really adored The Sword of Summer because of the diversity in characters. And it shows that not only contemporary novels have diversity, nevertheless fantasy can have it too.

The writing style is easy to read, however it does use a good deal of Norse mythology references and names. If you don’t have some knowledge with how to say these words and worlds, you might stumble a bit.

The Sword of Summer takes you on an adventure. That you can’t help, but keep on reading. I also love Riordan’s play on Norse mythology and the Norse Gods. They had me laughing at 1 am.

Not only was the words of book funny, sarcastic and brilliant but the chapter headings – holy – they are the most amazing chapter headings in the world.

There is also surprise visitors that made me squeal and it looks like some might make some appearances in the rest of the series.

The Sword of Summer is a book that takes you on a journey of laughs, heartache and fun. Rick Riordan doesn’t fail in his newest novel that any new and old fan will love.

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